FAST and simple: faceted subject headings Jorge A. González P. July 13, 2015 Technical Services Standing Committee meeting

What is FAST? Faceted Application of Subject Terminology  A rich controlled vocabulary based on the terminology of Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)  A simplified application syntax  Easy for non-catalogers to assign  Flexible enough across disciplines and access environments

Why so FAST? You might ask– Need for New Approach Growth of electronic resources Emergence of countless metadata schemes Need for controlled vocabulary access Need to make LC subject headings more flexible to faceting Increase in number of less skilled subject catalogers supplying headings

All Headings Are Established*… …because they come from LCSH and NACO Assigning FAST headings doesn’t require an understanding of the rules for constructing headings …*”mostly” Automatic and/or machine assisted assignment possible

Attributes of FAST Easy to use, easy to learn, and easy to implement Simple syntax Linked data and headings Faceted navigation Uniform indexing

Why not so……..FAST for some  Absence of customer support (Open source)  Funding, administrative reasons  Better disclosure of user base (16 identified so far…)

FAST – Examples of 8 Facets Topical (650:Marc) Lawyers Organized Crime Form (Genre) (655) Guidebooks, Maps Chronological (648) 1939(June)-1945(May) To 1500 Geographic (651) Florida ― Crescent Beach Personal Names (600) Kilgour, Frederick G. Corporate Names (610) Ohio Library Association MERCOSUR (Organization) Events (611) Olympic Games Uniform Titles (630) Dead Sea scrolls

8 FAST Converter a Web interface for the conversion of LCSH to FAST headings and provide a learning tool to familiarize with FAST and differences between FAST and LCSH

Example of Faceting/Conversion LCSH Topical Heading: 650 Architecture, Modern $y 20th century $z Illinois $z Chicago $v Guidebooks. Derived FAST Headings: Architecture, Modern (Topical; 650) Illinois $z Chicago (Geographic; 651) (Chronological; 648) Guidebooks ( Form; 655) VS.

LCSH to FAST Comparison 600 Lincoln, Abraham, $d Political leadership 650 Genius 650 Friendship 650 Presidents 650 Political science 651 United States 655 Case studies 655 Biography FAST 600 Lincoln, Abraham, $d Political leadership $z United States $v Case studies 650 Genius $v Case studies 600 Lincoln, Abraham, $d $x Friends and associates 650 Presidents $z United States $v Biography 651 United States $x Politics and government $y LCSH

11 searchFAST or assignFAST The interface combines search box, brief results list, and full view of a selected record on one page. The default ranking is by usage, giving most likely candidate heading near the top of the result; alphabetic and facet order options are available. An autosuggest is also available. Start typing, and See also and Authorized headings will appear. Your result in common, Marc, or Connexion format.

12 mapFAST

Project application: Florida History Newspapers Geographical Florida. Florida ǂ z Amelia Island. ǂ 2 fast Florida ǂ z Pensacola. ǂ 2 fast Chronological (May 18) *date issue Genre/Form Sources. Records and correspondence. ǂ 2 fast Statutes and codes. ǂ 2 fast Personal name Gaines, Edmund Pendleton, ǂ d ǂ 2 fast Jackson, Andrew, ǂ d ǂ 2 fast Event War of ǂ 2 fast Cession of Florida to the United States (1819) 13 Cheat Sheet History ǂ 2 fast Sources ǂ 2 fast Florida ǂ 2 fast 648 7[Chronological: ex., 1818 (May)] [consult topic name entry in fast.oclc.org] 611 7[Event, as in War of 1812, etc.]

Fast and linked data Linked Data authorities are formatted using SKOS. Linked Data of FAST authorities incorporate links to corres- ponding LCSH authorities *updated twice a year

Linked data  FAST Linked Data is the effort to make the meaning of information on the Web more understandable to computers. These Linked Data authorities are formatted using SKOS (Simple Knowledge Organization System).SKOS (Simple Knowledge Organization System). To download FAST data in RDF (linked data format N-triples) filesfiles (.zip: 250MB) at science/fast/download.htmlhttp:// science/fast/download.html Also available by individual facets. Heading: Seminole War, 2 nd ( ) Controlled Heading Identifier: Seminole War, 1st ǂ d ( ) ǂ 2 fast ǂ 0 (OCoLC)fst *****

Cornell – ahead of the game CUL Discovery and Access – Release notes at:

Summary  LCSH Vocabulary/Compatibility  Faceted  Hierarchical  Fully established  Linked!